Share this:

Like this:

It’s not the load that breaks you down. It’s the way you carry it. – Lou Holtz

Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.- MoliereWhen you walk with purpose you collide with destiny. – Ralph BuchananMarble I perceive, covers a multitude of sins. – Aldous Huxley

Peace begins with a smile.- Mother Teresa

“When I lost my sight…… people said I was brave……But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don’t you do the same?”- Marie-Laurie-a character in Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See

Presentation is everything.- Amanda Clark

Being a mother is an attitude, not just a biological relation. ― Robert A. Heinlein

Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not.. for of such is the kingdom of God. Luke 18:6

Share this:

Like this:

I’ve been without my husband Dave for the last week. He is down in Florida visiting our friends Jeff and Anna and their three children. It is school break week in Florida so Jeff who is a teacher, has been free to golf with Dave everyday. Yesterday Jeff sent me the photo above of Dave at Dunedin where the Toronto Blue Jays have their spring training games.

Jeff and Dave at Dunedin last year.

We got home from Arizona the first week of March and Dave swung right into substitute teaching. By the end of last week he’d already spent eight days in the classroom and figured he’d earned enough bonus cash to take advantage of a cheap flight to Orlando he found online. I couldn’t go because I was booked to give tours at the art gallery, had student teachers to visit and a writing deadline to meet.

It hasn’t been all work and no play for me though. I’ve had supper with a friend, enjoyed a lovely meal at the home of my brother and his partner, taken dinner over to share with my aunt who is recovering after having emergency hip surgery, and spent an evening with my writing group.

Dave will be home on Sunday. I’m happy he’s had a good time, but I’ll be glad to have him back. I guess after nearly forty three years I’m so used to having him around things just don’t seem quite right when he’s gone.

Share this:

Like this:

They’re up! I walk through the ground floor of the Richardson Building almost everyday going to and from appointments and my various part-time jobs. They have these enormous blinds on all the high windows in the foyer area and they change with each season. Even if you never left the building you’d realize when a new season has begun because the former season’s blinds are gone and the new ones appear. This morning it is nearly ten degrees below zero and there are snow flurries predicated but I know its spring because the spring blinds are up in the Richardson Building. Go and see for yourself! Note: With thanks to my brother-in-law Harvey for the idea

Like this:

Yesterday morning I found this gift outside my door. There was a note from our condo management company that a organization called Recycle Everywhere was providing bins free of charge to all residents of multiple dwelling buildings in the city. Information that came with the bin encouraged us to keep it in our kitchen as a handy container for recycling drink containers of all kinds. I already recycle and have a bin in my laundry room so I’m not sure I need this. But since it was a gift I’ll store it under my sink and try to use it. If this initiative encourages more people to recycle it is probably money well spent.

Share this:

Like this:

I played with clay! There’s a huge exhibit of Greek and Roman art pieces being set up in the Winnipeg Art Gallery right now and the Education Department will be offering a raft of exciting programs specifically tailored for the Olympus collection from Berlin. Yesterday the training program for the guides began and we learned how to make clay pots the way they would have long ago in Greece and Rome, an activity we will be doing with some of the children who visit the exhibit. Some of my fellow guides did such creative work. But as the workshop leader noted kindly, “MaryLou seems to be struggling a bit.” I was. Shaping that clay into something lovely wasn’t easy for me. But I’m not worried. My fellow guides created lots of terrific samples I’ll be able to show the kids and I’ve already learned that all the children need from me in a workshop is the supplies, plenty of enthusiasm and affirmation, some suggestions and basic instructions and their creativity takes over and they produce something great. We also did red-figure painting to recreate the kinds of designs you might see on vases from Ancient Greece. I met with more success with this activity. All the art projects are going to be fun to do with the children!

Like this:

I was walking to work down Portage Avenue quite early on Friday morning, when I saw this pair of black shoes abandoned beside a building. They were placed almost artistically against the wall and looked like a perfectly good pair of men’s shoes nicely polished. Who could have left them there? The temperature dipped down around the zero mark on Thursday night. I hope the shoeless person didn’t freeze their toes. I’m going to check if the shoes are still there this morning on my way to work.